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Paheli is a Bollywood movie, released in India on June 24, 2005, directed by Amol Palekar and produced by Gauri Khan, Sanjiv Chawla and Shahrukh Khan, who also plays the male lead. Paheli is based on the short story written by Vijayadan Detha and tells the story of a wife (Rani Mukerji) who is left by her husband (Shahrukh Khan) and visited by a ghost, disguised as her husband, who is in love with her and takes her husband's place.

Suniel Shetty, Juhi Chawla, Rajpal Yadav and Amitabh Bachchan have special appearances.

The movie opened the ninth Zimbabwe International Film Festival at the Libertie Cinema Complex in Harare.

Some critics claim that this movie's screenplay is loosely based on the Girish Karnad's critically acclaimed Kannada movie "Nagamandala"

The working title of the movie was Ghost Ka Dost (translates to friend of a ghost).

Synopsis

The movie is narrated by two puppets, voiced by Naseeruddin Shah and his real-life wife Ratna Pathak Shah. Enthusiastic young Lachchi (Rani Mukerji) is to be married to Kishen (Shahrukh Khan), the son of the rich merchant Bhanwarlal (Anupam Kher). Kishen is a dutiful son who honors his father's wish to start a new, far-away business on a predetermined auspicious date, which happens to be the day after the wedding ceremony. On the wedding night, Kishen turns away from his wife to finish his bookkeeping, and in the early morning hours sets off on a business trip that is to last five years. Lachchi is devastated; Gajrobai (Juhi Chawla), her husband's sister-in-law, consoles her, empathizing on the grounds that Gajrobai's husband (Sunil Shetty) has also disappeared. The next day, a ghost appears, having taken Kishen's shape and voice because of his own attachment to Lachchi.

Lachchi is thus presented a riddle (hence the title "paheli") between the representation of all of her desires in the form of the ghost and her real husband. She takes this new, fond, sexual, magical, social, self-confident version of Kishen as hers. As Kishen, the ghost befriends all of the real Kishen's family and keeps Bhanwarlal happy by providing him with magically provided, possibly illusory gold coins. Lachchi's bliss goes on until four years later, when she is pregnant and the real Kishen realizes he misses his wife. He returns only to find the ghost in his own form. Kishen's family is unable to determine which of the doppelgangers is the real Kishen (the ghost refusing to confess); therefore they decide to visit the king, so he can decide.

On the way to the king they meet an old shepherd (Amitabh Bachchan) who helps them out. He asks the real son of Bhanwarlal to pick up hot coals; asks the real husband to gather the sheep; and asks Lachchi's real paramour to enter a water-bottle. The real Kishen is found out and everyone returns home. Lachchi is devastated over the loss of the Ghost; in the very end it is revealed, that the Ghost has escaped the bottle and taken control of Kishen's body in order to live with her. By now Lachchi has given birth to a daughter, Looni Ma, by whose identification the ghost exposes his identity to Lachchi.

Controversy

Paheli was nominated as India's official entry to the 79th Academy Awards, a decision which surprised the film community. Paheli had received fairly good reviews from critics, who praised the acting but criticized elements with the story in general. However, the movie received mixed reviews from the audience. Paheli had also performed moderately at the box office compared to other critically acclaimed movies such as Black, Iqbal and Page 3. Some critics have accused the Film Federation of India (the body in charge of nominating official entries to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) of succumbing to lobbying, or pandering to the Academy by appealing to their stereotyped view of Indian society.

On the other hand, the film remains a delightful portrait of old Rajasthan, beautifully photographed and very well acted by two preeminent actors of the present day, Shahrukh Kahn and Rani Mukerji. It can also be suggested that Paheli's story was more original than the preferred choices of the critics such as "Black" and "Iqbal." Black, in particular, which was a re-make of the classic Hollywood movie The Miracle Worker, is arguably less "Indian" than a film based on a Rajasthani fable. Furthermore, 'Black' was set largely in English, though some argue that the language spoken in a film should not have any bearing on these decisions.